X360 signs Real Time Worlds

By Games Industry.biz Published 21 June, 2005

Exclusively.

Scottish development studio Real Time Worlds has become the latest UK company to sign a deal with Microsoft Game Studios, with "a number" of games currently in development exclusively for Xbox 360.

The partnership was announced this morning in London by Microsoft corporate vice president Peter Moore, who delivered the opening keynote address at the ELSPA International Games Summit.

Real Time Worlds is headed up by former DMA Design (now Rockstar North) boss Dave Jones, who was a key creative force behind titles including Lemmings and the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

The announcement confirms long-standing rumours that Microsoft is working with Jones on the creation of a new, Xbox 360 exclusive franchise. The developer's only previously announced title is a massively multiplayer game, All Points Bulletin, which is being published by Korean firm Webzen and is due to launch in 2007.

No details have yet been revealed of the titles in question, but according to Moore, additional information about the games will be released in the coming weeks.

Real Time Worlds joins a group of UK developers who are seen as crucial to Microsoft's launch window for the Xbox 360 - defined by Moore as "around 90 days post launch" - including wholly-owned subsidiary Rare, which is developing Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power, and Bizarre Creations, which is working on Project Gotham Racing 3.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • drumbaby #1 7 years ago

    Who needs Capcom with these guys onboard!!

  • Grunk #2 7 years ago

    I Like the strategy, whilst Sony is ploughing all it's money into marketing which is basically consisting of various people saying:

    "the PS3 is better the 360, there's no proof, but it's scientific fact!!"

    Microsoft are secretly (well quite openly actually) signing deals with all the development studios. which will inevitably lead to wider and quite possibly better set of games.

  • #3 7 years ago

    Indeed, while SONY geeks out their outfit with gigawatts and the ubergeek Linux. I'll just be playing 'EXCLUSIVE' quality games from quality developers on my Xbox360. Good work Microsoft.
    Edited by 2 at 21/06/05 @ 12:20

  • fox #4 7 years ago

    why tha hell should sony "secretly (well quite openly actually) sign deals" with all the development studios, when they have a crushing support from all the big companys?

    Oh and M$ has been doing this since xbox (1)... that's why Halo is their milkgoat and not another PC game!

  • #5 7 years ago

    At least Microsoft, like Nintendo, has a mascot to milk?

    What quality 'EXCLUSIVE' franchises do SONY have? Do SONY even make quality first party games? No, Didn't think so. Rockstar, Square Enix and EA are SONY's life blood, and they all have commited themselves to support of the Xbox360.
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/05 @ 12:47

  • fox #6 7 years ago

    OMG DUDE... what about Silent Hill, Gran Turismo and Metal Gear??! WTF are those?

    Not to speak of o DMC!

  • Wash #7 7 years ago

    Silent Hill... isnt that multi-format.

    Certainly 2 and 4 were on Xbox. or am i confused.

    Metal Gear has certainly dabbled on other platforms.

    DMC and GT tho.. yeah.

  • Wrobel #8 7 years ago

    Both Silent Hill and MG were on the XBox also

  • allen #9 7 years ago

    Balor:
    Grand Turismo 3/4 and the Final Fantasy 10+ series are franchises i missed as an xbox user.
    I know Enix|Square look to support xbox360 now so i'll theres only really grand turismo left. which is scee so will stay sony only. ohwell forza is just as good. (imo, more interesting for longer)

    EA aren't sony's life blood. they whore their games out to all consoles.

  • fox #10 7 years ago

    You not confused... but i guess you understood!!

    [edit] and balor, why tha hell did you edited out, most of your first comment content?
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/05 @ 12:55

  • Negotiator #11 7 years ago

    Oh yes, X360 for me, oh yes.

  • #12 7 years ago

    Gran Turismo?

    oh yeah, thats that game that forza beats!

  • allen #13 7 years ago

    Wrobel... after long delays and MG3 is yet to come to xbox. MG4 is highly rumoured to be PS3 only.

    so i guess thats the other franchise i'll miss.

    so ps3 will have... grand turismo and metal gear solid. doesn't look as good xbox360's lineup now.

  • Wash #14 7 years ago

    Thats what i like to see tho, instead of going out forthright and trying to tie up exclusives on established franchises... new ones have to be made.

    imho i prefer to play SC then MGS now... Forza to GT etc etc...

    EA can help destroy a console tho, thier lack of support for the DC is evidence of this.

  • effinwooly #15 7 years ago

    Fantastic news for the 360 ! I think even the most harded Sony fanboy will admitt to that !

  • Xerx3s #16 7 years ago

    Tss, $ony never had good games (except for SH).

    FF? *COUGH* Nothing good came from that sinse Nintendo DUMPED it. So I wont care if such a crap product would come to the x360 (although i can understand m$ for trying to beat $ony at their own game). And seriously, what is the current number after the name? 1 gazillion? Isnt it time that it would just f**k off and die?

    GTA? GTA 1 was one of the best games ever, the 4p dm on the pc was tha bomb on lan's (though kinda irritating with the netsplits). After that it just became a game suffering from sequelirites. GTA 2 was crap and after that it became more and more like an €A franchise.

    I liked the Silent Hill franchise, so thats basically why i own a ps2, but 2 and 4 are way better on the xbox and 3 is better on the pc. And they dont match the feel from the first part (again, a sony game that seems to suffer from sequelirites, but not that im complaining about this one because there are not enough horror/survival games of this type :( ).

    Lets see, whats left? Ah, GT4! Ha! Forza Moter Sport, PGR, etc. Nuff said.

    MGS? Fun to play once, but the original franchise kept me playing way longer than the MGS franchise. Rented it for a couple of quid and thats what i recon that its worth. But then again, the xbox & GC versions are way better. The Splinter Cell franchise is way beter btw, originally exclusive to the pc and xbx.

    Lets see, €A games? Well, i wouldnt be botherd if they wouldnt publish on the xb2. Tiberian Sun was the last €A game i ever bought, That was an overhyped, lowquality, massproduction, unoriginal game. After that, the quality lvl from €A just kept on falling.

    RE? Well, it never was a $ony exclusive.

    Ahh well, who cares, the PC will pawn any console. Though the xb2 & revolution might be interesting enough to buy. Perhaps even a ps3, if i was in need of a BBQ/Grill.

    Pff, i could go on like this forever, but its just to damn hot :(

  • #17 7 years ago

    Devil May Cry and Gran Turismo are quality titles now? Gran Turismo certainly was, 5 years ago, now it's being superseeded by better, more intelligent racing games. Devil May Cry 1 was a decent action game, sadly that's about as good as that franchise was.

    They're both certainly not the same quality I'd attribute 'EXCLUSIVE' first party games like Halo, Zelda or Mario with.

    Final Fantasy and Grand Theft Auto are the only quality semi-exclusive titles you can attribute to the SONY machine. But as I said next-gen is different, both Sqaure-Enix and Rockstar are behind Microsofts 'gaming machine' leaving little left to be desired on SONY's 'super computer'.

    I can't attribute any real hardcore evidence to my life-blood notion, but any frequent readers of eurogamer has surely noticed the charts they publish, and must have noticed how it's alway consistantly dominated by EA titles on the PS2 platform, that's more than enough evidence for me to conclude EA is SONY's casual gamer demographics life blood.

    As for Editing my posts, FOX, All I did is correct a few typo's.

    Keep signing those 'EXCLUSIVES' Microsoft!

  • JHuxley #18 7 years ago

    effinwooly: I'd prefer to wait and see considering that Real Time Worlds are a relatively unproven developer as of now. Besides, if the Rare debacle has taught us anything, it's that a developer isn't an asset until they've come up with the goods.

  • JHuxley #19 7 years ago

    "both Sqaure-Enix and Rockstar are behind Microsofts 'gaming machine'"

    Need I remind you that Square were also 'behind' the Gamecube? Neither the PS2 nor the Xbox have enough good exclusives to warrant purchase.

  • Blerk #20 7 years ago

    Good deal for MS, although I'll hold my breath before I get too excited. These guys haven't actually produced anything yet, after all.

  • #21 7 years ago

    "Need I remind you that Square were also 'behind' the Gamecube? Neither the PS2 nor the Xbox have enough good exclusives to warrant purchase."

    You need not, I've seen Crystal Chronicles and Dawn of Souls on Nintendo hardware, and it's a start at rebuilding their support to the platform after a shaky past. As for Xbox exclusives, there are quite a few that I'm looking forward to, new and old.

    Fable
    Halo
    Jade Empire (Anything Bioware really, I funkin' love them)
    Forza
    PGR
    Ninja Gaiden
    Dead or Alive

    I'm sure there's plenty more to come next-gen now that all the dev's 'officially' love XBox360! :p

    Edited by 1 at 21/06/05 @ 14:21

  • Wash #22 7 years ago

    "Neither the PS2 nor the Xbox have enough good exclusives to warrant purchase"

    Personal Preference of course, my GC is rotting except for the fact i play party games on it.

  • #23 7 years ago

    You wanna pick yourself up Resident Evil 4 then. If you can, I hear it's quite hard to find these days.

  • Wash #24 7 years ago

    Prolly will get RE4 when its cheaper... i have the first one on the cube and it still puts me off. admittedly i'm crap at it, but i cant help hating the control system.

    Even zelda flies under my radar.

  • #25 7 years ago

    The only comparison you should make between RE1 and RE4 is it's name. The control is radically different, the world is a fully realised 3D world, and there's no Zombies, or annoying puzzles in there. It does, like the early game, scare the shit out of you though!

    9/10 easily, I'm sure there will be a good review on here.

    Also, I wouldn't hold out for the game getting much cheaper than now (£25 second hand on eBay), it's hard to find, and I suspect people will end up paying over the odds eventually to get what will fundamentally be the best version of a great game.

  • Wash #26 7 years ago

    I dont doubt its a good game ;) but i couldnt justify the purchase unless i was going to play it and like it... could do a with a demo or somat :p

    Conker has to be my next purchase.

  • #27 7 years ago

    Another Code on Nintendo DS for me! C'mon eurogamer, gi's a review or something!

    But wahey for the point 'n' click adventure game, it's found a new home!

    I will get Conker though, but not yet, it's not worth £30 for a remake and a Live add-on I'm not interested in.

    And, just buy RE4, if you're a gamer, you can't do anything but like it, trust me! It's got everything you need, satisfaction guaranteed!
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/05 @ 15:13

  • Blerk #28 7 years ago

    Steady on, Arbiter! We can't have people talking sense in here! Blimey!

  • #29 7 years ago

    If you really believe that 'EXCLUSIVE' is relative, this or next-gen, then given that list of mediocre First Party SONY software, you really have confirmed there is nothing to be desired on the SONY platform.

    Thanks! :D

    Looking forward to FFXIII on Xbox360 in this new liberal 'Exclusive' land! :p

  • Blerk #30 7 years ago

    Using the word 'mediocre' when speaking of Ico should be punishable by death.
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/05 @ 16:54

  • #31 7 years ago

    It must have performed / been recieved really well by the SONY masses then?

    Or was I right to say Mediocre?

    :p

    Edited by 3 at 21/06/05 @ 17:09

  • JHuxley #32 7 years ago

    Balor: if sales and public perception of a title are equal to its quality, then Who Want to be a Millionare must be one of the best games ever. ICO is brilliant and anyone who's actually played it should know that.

  • #33 7 years ago

    I was just winding Blerk up there.

    I'm not sure that I personally would attribute the word mediocre with ICO. I certainly have an interest in it and I keep bidding for it on eBay, but for a game I'm unsure about, having heard mixed opinions of it, the auctions always reach an excessively high price, too excessive for me!

    I'll take your word that it is a real quality First Party title in this instance, and hopefully I'll be able to concur your sentiments one day. In the mean-time though, I'm still looking forward to Microsofts and Nintendo real strong stable of IP's more so than Shadow of the Collosus!
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/05 @ 18:22

  • Syrette #34 7 years ago

    "ICO is brilliant and anyone who's actually played it should know that."

    thats not fact. its a great game but i still feel its a little overrated in some circles. in my opinion, its not that good and if it came down to choosing either an X360 or a PS3 then an Ico game would not be a decider.



    "Meanwhile Sony's first and second party studios are churning out quality titles like Ico and its pseudo-sequel, God of War, F1, Wipeout, Jak & Daxters, Ratchet & Clank, Eyetoy & Singstar products"

    again you are entitled to your opinion but only the Ico games, GOW, and to a much lesser extent the platformers are really what id call truly quality Sony games. Wipeout Fusion is seen by many as mediocre and the worst in the series, the F1 games are good but not going sell a console, and the novelty titles are extremely popular but again they are not the sort of games i buy my consoles for.

    i'm not a Microsoft/Nintendo fanboy but i much prefer MS's 'exclusive' titles to the PS2s. not only are they (for the most part) original but they actually stay exclusive. Xbox's big franchises are of a lot more interest to me than any other consoles and its good to see Microsoft doing their bit to scope out new horizons while Nintendo and Sony deliver sequels and party games. again its all a matter of opinion.
    Edited by 3 at 21/06/05 @ 18:53

  • ProfessorLesser #35 7 years ago

    Lol @ the ganged-up-on-Balor

  • Mr_Brown #36 7 years ago

    True exclusives are a pain when you want them all and their on different systems, but exclusives will always be better than Multiplatform games. The main reason being quality. Sure not all Multi format games lack quality, but Exclusives (usually) will always be better content and graphically, because they are made for one system and one system only in mind. Meaning they don't have to convert it to other formats or worry about platform limitations (for example PS2's lack of Hardrive) mean more time spent on content and creativity.

    Exclusives are a good thing, in fact without them, we might as well just do away with all the consoles and have a generic Gamestation instead. Besides that, by the look of Next Gen consoles...looks like theirs going to be plenty of Exclusives compared to this Gen.

  • belziah #37 7 years ago

    Xbox fanboyz are as sad as sega fanboyz. wait a minute you are sega fanboyz, thats where you all got to.

    its muppets like you that keep gaming "for kidz"

    you seem to have more time for dissin others than you do for playing games, but what makes me laugh is that M$ is now doing what it should have done 5 years ago, what Sony did 10 years ago. Procuring new ideas and getting exclusive access to new franchises.

    when sony did that, you fools were talkin shit like, "sony are fucking up the industry by throwing their money around".

    Now M$ has worked out what it needs to do to win i.e. do what sony did, u're like "woohoo, go M$"

    so, to recap

    "its the superior processing power of the xbox that's gonna blow sony away, so long as whatever we do looks better, we cant fail"

    that didnt work, so now its. . . .

    "they've got a more powerful machine this time(sod off arnie, this is the general opinion of the industry), so it must be about the games"

    its about fuckin time they worked it out

    and before you write me off as a Sony fanboy, there's huge lump of whirring see-through plastic otherwise known as an Crystal Xbox gathering dust under my 43inch Hi Def plasma.

    if the xbox and ps2 launched at the same time, the ps2 still would have kicked its ass. this would have been because it offered something other than FP shoot em ups and driving games.

    hopefully, the next gen war will be closer. this will keep both M$ and Sony honest(Sony has become arrogant, bloated, complacent and lazy this gen) it can only be good for us gamers, but reading most of the bullshit posts from assholes on this site, you just want the box you've paid for to be #1

    you're not gamers, this is just a more expensive version of Top Trumps.


    tossers

  • #38 7 years ago

    Indeed Mr. Brown. Multi-platform games are developed with the lowest common denominator in mind, which in effect defies the point of having three seperate platforms, exclusives are good.

    What's your favorite game this generation, belziah? :D
    Edited by 2 at 21/06/05 @ 22:37

  • belziah #39 7 years ago

    pes3 is the only game I've played for the whole year(until pes4 that is) otherwise not sure

    big fan of ICO, love SC but Grand Theft III has to be my fave of this gen. The first truly adult game out there.

    when I was a kid this was the sort of game I wanted to play.

    Anyone know where I can get a copy of Ninja Gaiden from?
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/05 @ 23:15

  • #40 7 years ago

    a game shop?

    i can't be bothered going through all your points, but suffice to say, you probably spout the most crap, and have your head up your own arse more than anyone else on this entire site.

  • belziah #41 7 years ago

    arnie

    you prove my point with so little effort.... . . . .

    whats your secret?
    Edited by 1 at 22/06/05 @ 00:48

  • #42 7 years ago

    never use conditioner, whats yours?

    snort it?

  • Genji #43 7 years ago

    /drum kick

  • ProfessorLesser #44 7 years ago

    Oh GOD!